AmorChem Closes a First Transaction with the Université de Sherbrooke

April 17, 2019 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AmorChem is proud to announce a first investment at the Université de
Sherbrooke (UdeS). The venture capital fund has entered into an
agreement with UdeS and TransferTech Sherbrooke in order to optimize
antibiotic molecules developed by Pr. François Malouin and Pr. Éric
Marsault. Thanks to the support of Aligo Innovation, the project has
received generous funding from the “Programme de soutien à la
valorisation et au transfert – Phase II” of the Quebec Ministry for
Economy and Innovation. The project is also funded by MITACS and Cystic
Fibrosis Canada.

“We are very proud to add a first project from UdeS and TransferTech
Sherbrooke in our portfolio. Excellent work is being accomplished at
this institution and the efforts to bring the three groups together have
resulted in the identification of several promising opportunities. We
have been following the work of this complementary team of chemists and
microbiologists for a few years and the timing was right. We are
confident that several other projects will follow,” says Inès Holzbaur,
co-Founder and Managing Partner at AmorChem.

“The transaction between TransferTech Sherbrooke and AmorChem allows a
team of antibiotics researchers at UdeS to access significant financing.
New efficacious antibiotics are crucial to the progress of modern
medicine. We are therefore very happy to have contributed to the
promotion of this innovative technology,” comments Michel Lambert, CEO
of TransferTech Sherbrooke.

Pr. Malouin and Pr. Marsault have been working on tomatidine, a natural
product isolated from the tomato. This molecule and its analogs have
shown antibiotic properties which make them potentially interesting for
the treatment of infections affecting patients suffering from cystic
fibrosis. The team has identified the precise molecular target on which
the family of molecules is acting and preliminary results indicate that
its activity could be extended more generally to the treatment of Gram
negative and Gram positive bacterial infections.

“The confirmation that the bactericidal activity of tomatidine and its
analogs could be optimised to treat Gram negative bacteria in addition
to Gram positive ones crystallised our interest. There is a high demand
for broad spectrum antibiotics able to treat severe infections and we
are encouraged by the results obtained by this team,” says Maxime
Ranger, General Partner at AmorChem.

“Cystic Fibrosis Canada is delighted that AmorChem is acknowledging the
promise of Dr. François Malouin and Dr. Eric Marsault’s work at the
Université de Sherbrooke with an initial investment,” said Kelly
Grover, President and CEO, Cystic Fibrosis Canada. “This agreement
demonstrates the real world impact of the research that Cystic Fibrosis
Canada supports, as well as the steady progression and development of
cystic fibrosis research. Cystic Fibrosis Canada began funding Dr.
Malouin in 2006, and we are excited and proud that this work is maturing
to the point of investment.”

About AmorChem

AmorChem is a leading early stage venture capital fund launched in 2011
in Montreal. The AmorChem team utilizes its deep understanding of
fundamental science to uncover its therapeutic potential and focuses its
core expertise in translational research to accelerate therapeutic drug
discovery and development across a broad spectrum of disease areas. The
fund capitalises on both its venture capital expertise and its
entrepreneurial experience to spark the creation of start-up companies
and help shape them into the next generation of biotech companies. With
over $85M under management, AmorChem has financed over 25 university
projects and started up several biotechnology companies from the fruits
of this innovative research.